Check Out My Rack

Today's post is dedicated to my sweet husband, David.

And not just because I'm talking about my rack.

But because it is his BIRTHDAY!! My wonderful man is a St. Patrick's Day baby and I am so excited to be celebrating another wonderful year with him. To the man who reads every single word of my blog posts, who only rolls his eyes at about half of the projects I suggest, who will actually pretend to hold a conversation while I'm discussing how upset I am over the fate of Brad & Emily and whom I have loved since 4th grade...

Happy Birthday, honey!!!

Now we can talk about my rack.

For those of you who are new round these parts, I'm talking about the built-in wine rack on the wall between my dining room and kitchen. As I was repainting my dining room a couple of months ago, I decided to do something fun with the back of the wine rack. Thanks to the input from many of you, I finally made a choice and set a game plan into action.

And I chose option number.... none of them. I know!! I'm awful. So anti-climactic. I really loved all of the options in my post, but none of them ended up working with my new Ikea rug. With that said, I went on the hunt for wallpaper that would work with the new colors in the room (hence the reason we are fast-forwarded about a month!) but didn't really find anything I loved. And if I did love it, they wouldn't sell me the small amount of square footage I needed to cover the area behind the wine rack. Back to square one.

I think it was my girl Bailey who suggested that I paint the back of the rack. Bing bing! We have a winner.

Yup, I stenciled my rack. For all of you who have tackled a stencil project before, MORE POWER TO YOU! You might be a saint. I quickly learned that stenciling is seriously tough. I also learned that I do not have the patience to work with stenciling! Ah well. Luckily my project was just a mini-one.

I painted the back of the rack the same grey color as my kitchen. The first medium I tried was a silver craft paint. Definitely hated it and definitely had to go.

After dealing with the ugly silver paint and the stencil itself, my patience was wearing thin. I thought it was best to make a decision that was easy, so I went with an old trusty friend.

White paint.

I love it! But it is seriously the worst paint job I've ever done- I just could NOT get the stencil to match up with my incredibly uneven 1952 walls + uneven built-ins. So this shot is as close up as you get ; )

Oh and you can judge me, because these are all empty vino bottles. Yup, I'm that girl that has zero full bottles of wine at my house, but has four empty bottles sitting in our recycling bin (which is emptied once a week). Heck yeah.

Oh by the way, here is the previous owners' version of the wine rack right before we bought our house.

BEFORE

AFTER

Hm. Maybe one day I'll actually hang that art on the wall, instead of leaning it on my floor. One day.

I love how the wine rack incorporates the grey and white from my kitchen.

Nope, didn't clean for you guys!! Sorry.

And I'm loving how it works with the dining room as well!

Now that the stenciling is done (all it took was four bottles of wine!! ha), I am a happy camper!! : )

It looks great! I have never tried stenciling before but it terrifies me... so I'm thoroughly impressed. I keep flirting with the idea of stenciling the inside of my hall closet. HA. I doubt it happens ;)

ALSO...I feel silly and pesty giving unsolicited advice, but I think you're supposed to store wine bottles with the neck pointing down? Something about keeping the cork moist. You can tell me to shut up now, especially since those are empty bottles anyway (and you sound like my kind of wine buyer... I never have any to display!) :)

great job! IF you ever find yourself doing a stencil project again you should try the stencil paint sticks. They are like a big crayon, you just dab the stencil brush on it. It doesnt run like liquid paint so you dont have to worry about it getting under the stencil.

Anna, thanks for the info!! I actually didn't know that! Many bottles are too big to fit in the rack so I have to tilt them, looks like I did it the wrong way!! :) Also looks like I really need to stock up, too! Geez, my shelves are bare!

Second of all - I am literally obsessed with your [wine] rack. Did your house come with that built in? Because if it did - wow, that's amazing. I would have loved it, just white, but the stencil job you did is AMAZING. Seriously - love it.

It looks wonderful Michelle...and the colors are perfect! Love the way it really ties together the two spaces! If it makes you feel better...we store our wine on a shelf because we know it won't sit there too long! Happy Birthday to my little brother...I'm sure he cannot wait for me to give him his gift tonight!!

I love how it turned out. I just won a stencil from Emily Clark and now I'm scared to try it. I was going to tackle my 1/2 bathroom. Looks like I may need about 24 bottles of wine for this project. Happy St. Patrick's Day and b-day to your hubby. 4th grade? How cute!

it looks fanastic!!! Close up shots are overrated so no worries. Wait what? No wine in the house? How are you even able to type a post? ugh get to the liquor store Stat girl! (psst I am loving Gnarly head Pinto Noir now adays) just sayin.. ~Tana

OH how i wish i had a space for that!! way too cool -- i'm so impressed. love the black paint and the way you painted the back... trying to think hard of where i can squeeze one in.. loving your kitchen!!

p.s. featured YOU today on my blog! loving your world over here!http://ow.ly/4gtZW

It looks fantastic! I think this was probably your best bet when I think back to all the options you considered. I really want to stencil something, but I feel like it's going to be a real pain in the butt.. am I right? Sound like it, but I looks so so good:)

love how it turned out, Michelle! I've been considering stenciling a wall in our master bedroom...i was thinking it might be a HUGE painstaking project. now that you have confirmed that thought i think i will go will paper instead. thanks for saving me hours of frustration!

I have rack envy! :) Looks perfect. sorry it was such a pain . . .I have tried the stencil route, but notice there has been no blog post about it! Worst ever. happy birthday hubs and happy celebrating! I am holding up a Guinness in his honor as I type . . .well it's far away from the laptop!

hapy birthday mr ten june! i don't think my husband has read one word i have written, so i am impressed! although i have orally dictated some to him. ;)and your rack is HUGE, i mean awesome!really i love it- and i just bought the same stencil last week on sale! so excited to use it somewhere!

Happy birthday to your hubby! Love the stencil idea. Your rack looks great! :) I bought the same stencil from Hob Lob a while back and waiting for the perfect thing to stencil! Seeing how well yours turned out makes me more excited to use it somewhere.

Nice built in wine rack. Just one bit of advice. I work for a wine distributor and you want to store your bottles facing down on there so the wine is always in contact with the cork so it doesn't dry out. :o)

I work for a wine distributor in Chicago and I would reccomend you store your wine bottles facing down instead of up like you have them. You always want the wine to be in contact with the cork so it doesn't dry out and ruin your bottle of wine.

Meet Michelle

I'm a southern gal with an eye for young traditional design. I'm a self-proclaimed painter, crafter, decorator and do-it-yourselfer. Also a wife + momma to two preschoolers and a baby on the way. Welcome to Ten June!